Charles Hamilton’s timeless “Writing in the Sky” was a bonus track off of his early mixtape, The Pink Lavalamp. Sampling the timeless R&B/Soul hit by The Stylists “Betcha by Golly, Wow” the song is a very calming and inspiring anthem with Charles spilling his heart out over the track. The echoing soul-filled vocals in the background sample further contribute to the chill, spacey ambiance set by the song.

Hamilton has largely been quiet in terms of releases since his short run from around 2007 to 2010. He has recently begun to re-enter into the industry, however. Hamilton was featured on the soundtrack for the break-out music-industry drama and TV-show, Empire. He raps alongside songwriter group, The Invisible Men on “New York Raining”.

Charles Hamilton with The Invisible Men – New York Raining (feat. Rita Ora)

[Indie Underground Hip-Hop | Conscious Rap:]

I-An-I – My Grind (feat. Willow Smith)

I-An-I is a little known hip-hop group introduced to me by my brother, that released a stunningly “real hip-hop” mixtape titled, Free Love around 2010. Released through I-An-I’s music group Purple Reign, the EP is chock full of “real hip-hop” beats, smart, conscious lyrics and soulful samples.In theunderground banger “My Grind” I-An-I samples Will Smith‘s daughter and pop music songstress, Willow Smith. With a very catchy hook and some quite emotional heartfelt lyrics, “My Grind” is not a song to be missed by rap enthusiasts.

“Free Love” is not Purple Reign’s only “fye” extended play, member of the group, chad. (born Chad Charles) released a similarly scorching hot, authentic underground rap album, Conquering Lions with some amazingly clever raps and one-of-a-kind beats you won’t hear anywhere else. Here are a few standout tracks from that mixtape, which can be found on DatPiff, Bandcamp and ReverbNation.